Library wants to know: How are we doing?

By MATTHEW BEATON | The News Herald

Published: Wednesday, February 12, 2014 at 06:27 PM.

To receive state funding, the library must write a long-range plan — about three to five years in length. The library is in the third year of its three-year plan and is hopeful the survey will inform its new plan. The new long-range plan starts Oct. 1.

“We assume that the most important thing to the library user is books, but we don’t want to make decisions based on our assumptions,” Shader said. “We want to make decisions based on what people are telling us they want and they need.”

The brief surveys — 13 questions for users and 10 questions for non-users — will help the library decide how to spend its money, Shader said.

The library will try to address the issues the survey raises as quickly as possible, as well as use it to write the long-range plan, Shader said. Some small changes could be made immediately, she said.

The goal, partly, is to find out why people don’t use the library and what can be done to bring them in.

“I think a lot of times people just don’t realize what is available here,” Shader said.

PANAMA CITY — Library users and shunners can now impact how it operates.

The Northwest Regional Library System, which includes Bay, Gulf, and Liberty counties, is offering a customer satisfaction survey.

The library wants to get feedback from the public on how it can improve its operations and use the suggestions and recommendations in its long-term plan, said Robin Shader, library director.

The survey has been offered since Feb. 1, one for library users, one for non-users. The public will have the chance to weigh in at least through the end of the month, if not longer, Shader said. The library needs at least 383 surveys to run statistical analyses and has received about 250 so far.

The survey is available on the library’s website and at all eight locations on hard copy. Survey-takers are not asked to provide their names.

“We want to know what the people that use the library and the people that don’t use the library … think about how we’re doing and what we might be able to do to attract them to the library,” Shader said.

To receive state funding, the library must write a long-range plan — about three to five years in length. The library is in the third year of its three-year plan and is hopeful the survey will inform its new plan. The new long-range plan starts Oct. 1.

“We assume that the most important thing to the library user is books, but we don’t want to make decisions based on our assumptions,” Shader said. “We want to make decisions based on what people are telling us they want and they need.”

The brief surveys — 13 questions for users and 10 questions for non-users — will help the library decide how to spend its money, Shader said.

The library will try to address the issues the survey raises as quickly as possible, as well as use it to write the long-range plan, Shader said. Some small changes could be made immediately, she said.

The goal, partly, is to find out why people don’t use the library and what can be done to bring them in.

“I think a lot of times people just don’t realize what is available here,” Shader said.